Recently it has been shown that high quality teas have many health benefits, especially Black and Green Tea. With all the news on Black and Green Tea lately, you may be considering adding it to your daily diet regime. If that is so, only use the best quality and freshest tea available for the maximum health benefits.

Millions of people all of the world have been drinking tea for centuries. In America it has been considered a cheap convenient drink for soothing the soul and stimulating the senses. Yet there is a far more important reason that people drink tea more than any other beverage: the tea leaf has potent health-enhancing powers. The Japanese have known this for thousands of years and the modern West is just catching up to the remarkable health benefits of drinking tea.

Some of the benefits derived from drinking tea are reducing cholesterol, preventing tooth decay, strengthening the immune system, helping to prevent heart disease and stroke and reduce the risk of cancer.

The active ingredients in black and green tea are flavonoids called polyphenols. Polyphenols act as antioxidants in the body. This helps in reducing cell damage that can lead to cancer, heart disease, high cholesterol and other serious illnesses. It has been found by researchers that more than in any other foods, tea has the most potent free-radical fighters of all.

There was a study done with 800 hundred men. It showed that those that ate the most flavonoids had a 58 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease that those that did not. Those men that consumed four cups of black tea per day were the healthiest among the group.

In addition to that it has been found that tea reduces tumor formation and is linked to lower levels of breast, lung, esophageal, pancreatic, colon, skin, stomach, liver and small intestine cancers. This makes it a worthy consideration for adding tea to your diet.

Another startling study was done by a team of Italian researchers on the effects of green tea on men prone to prostate cancer. The study used 62 high risk men who had previously had precancerous lesions, (which often turn into prostate cancer within one year). All of the men were between the ages of 45 and 75 exuding vegetarians and men who already consumed green tea.

Thirty two men in the study group where given 200 milligrams of green tea catechins, three times per day, while the remaining men where given placebos. Biopsies where conducted 6 months and one year later. Unbelievably, only one of the 32 men in the control group developed prostate cancer, while nine of the placebo group developed the disease. These results were amazing, and another reason, in my humble opinion, that green tea should be added to your diet.

In using the best quality teas available you increase your rate of success. So if you drink any tea purchase only the freshest, highest quality and if you take green tea supplements be sure that they do not have fillers or caffeine.

For best results with black or green teas steep for three minutes to get all of the beneficial compounds. Yes, you can steep longer to get more compounds, but the tea will become bitter and therefore unpalatable. Also try adding some herbal teas, many of which can aide in digestion, cold relief, and sleeplessness.

Tea for Health and Longevity!